Woman falls to death in Odisha hospital; probe ordered

Barely hours before being discharged from the hospital, a woman patient reportedly fell to death at SCB Medical College and hospital in Odisha’s Cuttack city in the wee hours today.

Sources said the deceased woman was admitted to the Nephrology ward and was undergoing treatment for a kidney ailment. At around 3 am today, she slipped from the third floor of the department while on her way to the lavatory and died on the spot.

She was set to be discharged from the hospital today.

The attendants of the patients alleged that the mishap happened because construction is underway on the third floor and the roof has not been protected with parapet or temporary bamboo structures.

“Had there been parapet on the edge of the roof or bamboo structures, the patient wouldn’t have died,” a relative of a patient alleged.

Meanwhile, a case of unnatural death has been registered at the local police station and the hospital authorities have ordered a departmental inquiry into the incident.

“After we receive the departmental inquiry report, post-mortem and police investigation report, we will be in a position to tell under what circumstances the woman died,” SCB Medical College and Hospital Emergency Officer, Dr Bhubanananda Moharana said.